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Where’s Ted Striker when you need him? A British Airways flight from London to Glasgow was forced to make an emergency landing on December 20 after both pilots reported feeling unwell and lightheaded.
“Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, a very abrupt and panicked message came over the PA from the pilot, saying, ‘Senior flight attendant to the flight deck,’ ” an unnamed passenger from the flight is quoted as saying to The Daily Record of Glasgow.
The incident aboard the Airbus A321 jet happened Dec. 20, but was picked up by mainstream British media over the weekend. Passengers on the flight apparently were initially told that the emergency landing was due to a mechanical issue.
However, a spokesman for British Airways confirms to The Telegraph of London the pilots had become “unwell” on the flight in question.
In its Sunday story on the incident, the Telegraph quotes a BA statement as saying:
“The pilots reported feeling light headed so, as a precaution and following normal procedure, put on their oxygen masks. Our pilots are highly trained to deal with such circumstances. The aircraft landed safely and customers continued their journey after a short delay.”
Frightening indeed. Certainly modern planes don’t require much pilot input under normal circumstances, but there’s no doubt that these illnesses created a dangerous situation, and we’re glad that the plane landed safely without further incident. Surely, it could have been disastrous(Don’t call me Shirley!). No word on whether little Joey likes gladiator movies or whether air traffic controller Steve McCroskey has quit sniffing glue.
Related articles
- Emergency landing as pilots fall ill (travel.usatoday.com)
- British Airways pilots make emergency landing after feeling ‘light-headed’ (guardian.co.uk)
- British Airways jet makes emergency landing at Heathrow after ‘both pilots nearly black out’ (mirror.co.uk)
- ‘Lightheaded’ pilots make emergency landing (cnn.com)